Seriously. I haven't had the telescope out for ages. I was hoping to use it when my niece and nephew were visiting from NZ, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

I finally found it through the scope (it's really obvious to the naked eye) no thanks to my crappy viewfinder which was off by a good two degrees of sky or so...

I couldn't make out much detail, but it was clearly a disc and not just a spot like a star. I could see two moons close to it, and one further away on the other side. Checking my astronomy software, the two closest moons were Io and Europa, and the furthest out one was probably Callisto.

It's time again for the annual Relay For Life, organised by the Cancer Council of Australia to raise funds for cancer research, and awareness of cancer generally.

Anne and I will be hoofing it as part of our team of twenty, named "Pam's Party". The team will have at least one person walking the track over a period of two days. Our team did very well last year. It's an even bigger team this year, so we're expecting to do even better - but we need your help!

The whole thing is run on donations and we want your money. You can go to this site to learn more about the Relay and to make a donation.

I am writing to express my serious concern over the treatment of the victim in the Qatif rape case.

Charging the victim of such a horrendous crime does not serve justice. This poor woman has been assaulted in the worst possible way, and instead of offering her protection and support your government has seen fit to punish her.

Woman all over the world suffer too often from assumptions that they are somehow culpable in cases of sexual assault. Should we blame a victim of a robbery for walking at night? Or the victim of a burglary for owning a house? Similarly to these examples, charging a victim of a rape with some form of wrongdoing seems nonsensical. It is certainly unjust.

I also have great concerns about freedom of speech in your country. Anyone – man or woman – is entitled to their opinion and should be able to express it without fear of reprisal. This is especially true of government – citizens should be able to be vocally critical of their leaders and their leaders' decisions without repercussion. I believe this to be a fundamental right.

I look forward to the day when your country reforms its judicial process, and where victims of any crime can expect compassionate treatment, instead of further victimisation.

Sincerely...

You can write a letter to the Saudi ambassador to Australia yourself at this address;

I've gone through the maps I've been working on for Tribes and identified the ones that are actually worth continuing to work on. As a result I've deleted four, leaving me with another four to finish. One has already been finished and released.

Even though the game is three years old and isn't played by anyone I still derive a great deal of pleasure constructing maps for it :) I should be learning how to do 3D modelling, as it would open up a whole new realm of mapping possibilities, as well as being a highly-marketable skill should I ever want to return to the games industry.
Nov. 21st, 2007 @ 09:35 am